One thing you might have noticed from all of the RX 480 leaks is that they’re all mostly 3DMark results. Created by Futuremark, FireStrike is the premier DirectX 11 benchmark to showcase graphics card performance. However, as more and more developers and games migrate over to new APIs, FireStrike results may become less and less relevant. In preparation for the day when DirectX 12 goes fully mainstream, Futuremark is readying up Time Spy, their new DX 12 benchmark.
Set to be added the rest of the 3DMark suite, Time Spy will provide a whole new level of detail and graphical fidelity thanks to the new API. This is due to the low-level and low-overhead of DX 12. It will also bring Asynchronous Compute, heavy multi-threading and explicit multi-adapter support. Finally, we won’t have to rely on just games to showcase DirectX 12 performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2JMD1Ytn5M
The company isn’t expecting FireStrike to go anywhere just yet and DirectX 11 will likely remain relevant for quite a while as well. Futuremark plans to share more details after the Steam Summer Sale. For those that purchase the basic 3DMark now, they will get access to the Basic version with paid upgrades to Advanced and Professional modes. Be sure to check out their teaser trailer as well.
